Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F (2015)

After almost a decade since his death at the hands of Future Trunks, the tyrant Frieza has been resurrected by the Dragon Balls. His goal, vengeance against the Saiyans that humiliated him. With an army at his command and his hate fuelling his training to get stronger, will Goku and Vegeta be able to stop his rampage? Even after their own training with same individual who taught the god of destruction?

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F is the fifteenth movie based on the Dragon Ball Z series and the second Dragon Ball film to be released in the past decade. The film was directed by Tadayoshi Yamamuro while being supervised by the original creator of the Dragon Ball franchise, Akira Toriyama. The film was released in Japan on April 18, 2015 and will be aired in a total of 74 countries around the world. Much like previous Dragon Ball media, Funimation licensed the film and together with Toei Animation, premiered the subtitled version of the film for US audiences at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on April 11th 2015.

After Battle of Gods was such a huge success both in Japan and overseas, it didn't surprise me at all that Toei Animation wanted to keep the momentum going with by making another Dragon Ball Z film. When it was later revealed that the film's focus was going to be Frieza's return and a rematch with Goku, I was hyped but also a bit hesitant. The new transformations didn't really interest me all that much and with an adversary like Frieza on the bill I wasn't sure what kind of tone the movie was going to go for. However, I am happy to report that a majority of my apprehension vanished after the very first scene.

Fans who watched Battle of Gods left unsatisfied by the emphasis of humor rather than action, should be very pleased with Resurrection of F. The fight sequences that made Dragon Ball Z famous take center stage and very satisfying to watch. Some of the computer generated animation can seem out of place at times, specifically when animating a large group of characters or some of the backgrounds. However, the individual character animation was spot on and really had some impressive transitions between 2D and 3D.

Something that excited me personally was that Goku wasn't the only character that had time to shine. Krillin, Tien, Piccolo, Gohan and even Master Roshi all get their fair share of screen time and prove that they are all still forces to be reckoned with. Some new characters are also included, such as Galactic Patrolman Jaco, who was the main character of one of Akira Toriyama's short manga series set in the Dragonball Universe. While this character is definitely enjoyable, his back story and how he knows the Bulma's family is not really explained very well to people who aren't familiar with the manga. The true scene stealers of the film however, returning from Battle of Gods, are both Beerus and Whis. Anytime where they act off each other, completely ignoring the danger in preference of eating food is comedic gold.

Though the action has the greater focus in this movie, it is still jam packed with Akira Toriyama's signature humor. Beerus, Whis, Jaco, Bulma and of course the usual bickering between Goku and Vegeta all serve as comedic highlights. Part of this is due to the amazing work done by the Funimation voice cast. Special mention goes out to Chris Ayres for reprising his excellent performance as Frieza from the Dragon Ball Z Kai dub.

As a film, Resurrection of F is far from perfect, but as a film made for fans of the franchise it hits all the right notes. Where the franchise will go from here is hard to say, but here's to hoping that Dragon Ball Super will be just as satisfying experience for Dragon Ball fans as these films have been.

Funimation's US limited theatre release of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F will continue from August 4th-12 while the UK release will come in September of this year. The film is also slated for a home video release later this fall.

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